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A jury found Kristian James Samuel White guilty in the trial in
Sydney after 20 hours of deliberation. White, who is on bail,
could get up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced later.
Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who had dementia and used a
walker, was refusing to put down the steak knife she was holding
when the officer discharged his Taser at her in May 2023.
Nowland fell backward after White shocked her and died a week
later in hospital.
Police said at the time that Nowland sustained her fatal
injuries from striking her head on the floor, rather than
directly from the device’s debilitating electric shock.
White's employment is under review and is subject to legal
processes, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters
after the verdict.
“The court has found Claire Nowland died as a result of the
actions of a police officer. This should never have happened,”
Webb said, as she offered her “deepest condolences” to Nowland's
family. The state's police reviewed its Taser policy and
training in January and no changes to it were made, she added.
In video footage played during the New South Wales Supreme Court
trial, White was heard saying “nah, bugger it” before
discharging his weapon, after the officers told Nowland 21 times
to put the knife down. White, 34, told the jury he had been
taught that any person wielding a knife was dangerous, the
Guardian reported.
But after an eight-day trial, the jury rejected arguments by
White's lawyers that his use of the Taser was a proportionate
response to the threat posed by Nowland, who weighed about 100
pounds (45 kilograms).
The prosecutor argued that White's use of the Taser was was
“utterly unnecessary and obviously excessive," local news
outlets said.
The extraordinary case provoked debate about how officers in the
state use Tasers, a device that incapacitates using electricity.
Nowland, a resident of Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in the
town of Cooma, was survived by eight children, 24 grandchildren
and 31 great-grandchildren, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation reported.
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